I remember when the first sets were released a few years back, and I was a little dumbfounded at the time to find most of the heroes from the trilogy had been neglected. Where were Han, Leia and Chewie?
LEGO has rectified this oversight by releasing the Millennium Falcon to retail this year. I was lucky enough to receive the set this past weekend, and have decided to see if some of the bad press going on about it was really warranted.
The box itself is somewhat larger than that of the Mos Espa Podrace set; cut the tape tabs on the front, and the box opens up to reveal its contents. Like any other set, the parts are contained within their plastic bags. I like to build by dumping everything out but the small pieces. It gives the experience a bit of a puzzle. But as I'm sure all parents are aware, be sure that you know where your children are when you do this, lest pieces disappear . . .
The first thing you'll notice are the minifigs. While Luke and R2 are the same as can be found elsewhere, the other four are unique to this set. (A "Bespin" Han is a part of a Collector's Minifig set, and Chewbacca will be featured in one later.) Leia is much as you would expect - rather plain. Yet the Princess is overdue and not to be found elsewhere, so she is welcome. Han looks great. His holster has been painted onto the one pants leg with silver paint deco on both the belt and holster itself. But he is not the highlight of the minifigs in this set. In fact, he's not even second.
The protocol droid C-3PO debuts in this set. When you first find him amongst the pieces you'll pick him up and try to figure out exactly what the plastic he's made of is. It's almost a milky kind of translucent look, and one that works well. The headpiece is a good mold, and while I could easily be wrong I think this is the first minifig with paint deco on both the front and back of the torso.
The wookie looks a *whole* lot better than expected. Perhaps I never took a good look at the various pics around the net, but I didn't realize that the headpiece was actually a "bodypiece" as well. The piece covers the shoulders and extends down to the waist of Chewie, in both the front and back. And although I had thought it had no paint deco like the plain tan headpieces for the Gungans, I was wrong again. His nose has been painted black, and there is silver deco on his bandolier. A gorgeous piece of work, and one of my new favorites.
But odds are good you're not going to pay all that money for a set of minifigs. So how does the ship look?
The Falcon is perhaps the most distinguishable vehicle in the Star Wars universe. As such, it would be difficult to make it perfect; we've all seen it too many times. The directions are straightforward and well thought out, but not without fault. I found at least one instance of a piece being in the illustration even though it was not pointed out. But I think all builders have learned to really look hard as we're building, so I considered this to be trivial.
When putting this set together, do so on a very sturdy surface. At various stages it is rather loose in construction, and your work will end up breaking apart. The cockpit was improved from early renditions to now seat two. The clear plastic canopy piece snaps into place rather than being on a hinge.
Inside the ship, there are several compartments that LEGO is so fond of putting in to their sets. They do not detract from the piece. There are clips for a set of tools (and of course the Falcon is always being worked on . . .), a monitor station and the holochess gameboard. The ramp can be lowered manually on one side, and on the other is what I would call a small, well, I didn't know what to call it. It is a small escape pod I have been told, and while it didn't make sense at first, I then remembered that we're messing with kids toys and I'll give LEGO credit for putting it in there for extra play value. It doesn't hurt.
The top of the vehicle is removable, latched on beneath the quad laser cannon. In fact, when you go to place it on the ship, tilt the cannon back and look through the holes inside to guide it onto where it locks in place. Very easily accomplished. The radar dish is on the correct side of the ship as well, unlike previous pics showed.
Is there too much color? There are plenty of blue and red bricks in the set, but I honestly don't think they detract from it at all too much.
Set 7190 is a solid take on a Star Wars classic, and I would recommend it to anyone who collects these toys. Can you really have a collection of these sets without the Falcon? The obvious answer is "no". So look for it when it hits retail and if the small oversights bug you too much, then fix them yourself. Isn't that what LEGO is all about anyway?